Off the beaten path river play and BBQ spot in Ogose

A Little known river play spot, where you can also barbecue, along the Oppe River at Daima Nozon Hiroba in Ogose.

River play / BBQ Ogose

Given the year that’s in it, we’ve been spending a lot of our time “off the beaten path”. On our spring adventures this year we found a lovely little river spot where you can barbecue in Ogose. I was drawn to it initially because of the beautiful cherry blossoms in the car park. On investigating we discovered a playground and an ideal place for kids to play in the Oppe river. It is also suited to barbecuing.

Daima Nozon Hiroba

The Oppe River runs by our house too. However, where we live it is wide, deep and dirty. In Ogose, it is shallow for the most part, with a slightly deeper part, and clear and clean. It is quite stony though so river / water shoes recommended. The river is at the Daima Nozon Hiroba, a small park like town facility. The Hiroba has a small playground, a gate ball field, an open multi-purpose space, tennis courts, toilets, cherry blossoms and the river.

Health Road

Daima Nozon Hiroba is attraction number 12 on and 3.8 kilometre into a 16.2 kilometre route, from Ogose Station to Santaki, known as “Health Road”. The purple mountains and the three waterfalls of Kuroyama are also on Health Road. When we visited them earlier in the year we stopped off at the river to paddle our feet. It was April though so the temperatures weren’t quite warm enough to do more than a quick dip. There was no-one else there on either of the days we visited back then. There were people using the tennis courts, but no-one at the playground or river.

In summer there are a few more people. And people barbecue as well as play in the river. Most are paddling, but there is a part of the river that is slightly deeper where older kids swing from a large rock. I presume some of the locals made the swing. (Its not very clear, but you can just about make out the swing on the left hand side of the photo above, sitting against the large rock). Usually the park offers some river experiences in summer for kids, such as fishing, but this year due to the Coronavirus they have no special events on.

The sign in the photo above says: if you barbecue please take your rubbish home with you.

Other seasons

Apparently at this section of Health Road you can see plum blossoms in February. Of course, Ogose is famous for plum blossoms. The famous plum blossom grove, one of kanto’s top three, and plum blossom festival are relatively close to this location.

At the end of March and / or early April, beautiful cherry blossoms grow at Daima Nozon Hiroba. There are only about 15 trees, but they are mature and beautiful. On one of our visits the petals had started to fall and where turning parts of the river pink. The purple mountain is really close, only a few minutes drive. And Sakuranoyama park is also close. Both are worth a visit in spring if you are in the area.

Monkeys!

No, not my kids on the river swing! But actual monkeys can be seen in this area from time to time. This year monkeys were spotted several times in the vicinity in both March and April. Apparently it is quite common.